'Misrepresenting' – Brighton receive hefty FA fine after £5.2m record transfer and 'multiple' breaches

Premier League club Brighton and Hove Albion were fined by the FA after a hearing on Tuesday

At a hearing on Tuesday, Brighton were found guilty of breaching FA rule A3, which says a club cannot "conceal or misrepresent the reality and/or substance of any matters in relation to a transaction."

The same breach was then mistakenly repeated on “multiple transfers” or contract negotiations of players to The FA between January 2015 and January 2018.

The £5.2m transfer of Australian international goalkeeper Maty Ryan from Spanish club Valencia in 2017 was highlighted, as was Beram Kayal's move from Celtic in 2015.

In Ryan's transfer, The Mail reported Ryan's agent – former Middlesbrough striker Mikkel Beck – was registered on the paperwork as solely working for the club, when in reality he was also representing the player.

This practice – that The Mail describes as 'not unusual in the industry' – enables players to avoid paying tax on work carried out by their agents. It has since has been banned by the FA and also the Inland Revenue.

Brighton fully co-operated with the FA and even self-reported the issue to them once they discovered the “administrative error.” It is believed the FA punishment could have been worse had it not been for Brighton’s transparency throughout the process.

A statement from the club read: “The FA accepted the club and its staff had acted in good faith, and also self-reported the breaches of FA Regulations on discovery.

“The same error was mistakenly repeated on multiple transfers or contract negotiations of players to The FA between January 2015 and January 2018.

“This was an administrative error, made totally in good faith, which only came to light following a change of personnel in a senior administrative role.

“We do not dispute the breach of FA regulations, and accept the findings of the commission. However all concerned acted in good faith, having misinterpreted a specific section of The FA's rules.

“Once this error was discovered, the club self-reported the breach to The FA, and took the proper steps to correct the error.

“We also fully cooperated with The FA throughout the process, while simultaneously reviewing our processes, and as a result have put in place procedures to ensure this won't happen again.”